In two days (19th May) the UK is going to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince Henry of Wales (or Harry, as he is more popularly known); Princess Diana’s second Son. He is marrying actress Rachel Meghan Markle at the St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle where the Queen and Prince Philip live for most of the year. I will not get into any details about their wedding as the media has been and will be covering the event extensively and in every minute detail. On the days prior to and on the wedding day, I expect the town of Windsor will be completely taken by government officials, security personal, diplomats, rich people, not so rich, but curious people and tourists, so for me in particular Windsor is a “no go” destination in the period.

Thankfully, the 7th of May was a bank holiday in the UK and it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, the skies were clear and the temperature was ideal for a bike ride. So, as I mentioned the royal wedding at the end of the video, I decided to call this ride the “Royal Wedding Ride to Windsor Castle” and I took the opportunity to start it from Bracknell’s, new town centre, called “The Lexicon“, so I could show it to you all as well (the old town centre was demolished a few years ago to give way to the construction of The Lexicon, an investment estimated at approx. £750 million).

Windsor is a regular cycling destination for me. If you look through the blog you’ll see I have recorded several rides to Windsor over the last 3 years. Actually, let me do this job for you…

On the 19th of July 2015 I published a post containing a 9 min 37 sec time-lapse video starting from Bracknell’s train station, but using a different route which takes me by the entrance of the Legoland Park in Windsor and then through some private roads of a farm which I suspect belongs to the crown.

On the 18th October 2015 I again posted another post of a mid-autumn bike ride to Windsor containing the video of the ride from Bracknell to Windsor and the way back from Windsor to Bracknell . The first video is only 2 min and 31 sec long as it was a 5 second interval time-lapse recording. I did use the same route and rode from home to the old Bracknell Town Centre, but on my way back to Bracknell, I used the same Legoland Park route as on the post of the 19th of July one.

On the 8th of February 2016 I published a post containing 2 videos: An 8 min and 37 sec time-lapse video from Bracknell’s South Hill Park, using pretty much the same route as the one I used in this post, and also a video of the way back to Bracknell , using the same Legoland Park route as on the way back of the above post.

These post show only the rides to Windsor that I recorded. The distance between my home to Windsor is, for me, the perfect training length and I have often also used Windsor as a destination to do “full load” test rides in advance of long touring trips such as the one I did to Rome in 2016.

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This GPX file contains the route I used to cycle from The Lexicon in Bracknell to Windsor Castle on May, 7th 2018. It goes via Ascot passing by the Royal Ascot Race course and through portions of Windsor Great Park.

Browsing through WordPress the other day I discovered it is possible to configure it to post by email, in other words, I write an email, send it to the blog and WordPress publishes it as a blog post. I believe that would be ideal for when I am on the road, so decided to give it a try and this is my 1st “post by email” blog post. If it doesn’t look good, don’t blame me… 🙂

Last Sunday I did my first fully loaded test ride to Windsor. Packed in the panniers and rack everything I think I need to take with me and rode to Windsor and back, an approx. 42 Km round trip. The way to Windsor took 1h and 11 min which wasn’t bad, but the route to Windsor is quite flat. Will be a very different type of ride when crossing the Alps.

I used a bathroom scale to measure myself and the loaded bike and the weight of the bike + cargo is just over 50 Kg. The bike itself weighs about 15 Kg, so 35 Kg is load, which is probably too much. As usual, I “think” I am taking with me everything I “think” I am going to use along the ride, incl. all camping equipment and gear plus a small kitchen, clothing for 2 seasons (it can be rather cold in the Alps at the evening, even in summer), bike tools, etc.

I’ll try to reduce the weight by 10 to 15% before I leave.

I have also setup camp in my own back garden to test the new Alpkit Ordos 2 tent I bought especially for this occasion. I must confess I am way too used to the comfort of my bed and it wasn’t a good night sleep, but I am hoping that after a long day of cycling, sleeping at night won’t be an issue.

I am not exactly sure how pictures are displayed in a post, when the post is generated by an email, but I’ll attach some pictures in the hope they will look more or less self-explaining.

Just 3 days from my departure, there is still lots to be done. I have contacted several Warmshowers and Couchsurfing hosts, but the time of the year means a lot of people are themselves not home as they are traveling on holidays.

Well, as this is just a test to determine how this “WordPress Post by Email” feature works, I think that is it. If it works well, I may use it to post more often from the road as it looks like a really convenient method to post.

Stay tuned and if you can, please donate to my charity of choice, Mind UK, which link you can find in my previous blog post.

I left home today with the intention of recording a bike Vlog to talk about my Via Francigena project, but I decided not to. Wasn’t really in the mood for talking today, but I thought would be nice to post some moments of the ride to Windsor. When I arrived in Windsor there was a Salvation Army parade coming in the other direction and I thought that could be interesting to show you.

Sorry, for not talking much, but I hope you can appreciate the effort. There are good days and there are bad days in life… 🙂

It had been a while since the last time I rode from Bracknell to Windsor. I really missed these 50 K (well, nearly) rides to Windsor.

Those that follow this blog may remember I recorded several rides to Windsor already (this one, this one and this one) and I usually reward myself with a Double Hot Chocolate and something to eat at the Chocolate Theater Café by the Eton Bridge. Sadly the Café seems to have closed for good 🙁 . As it had been a while since my last ride to Windsor I didn’t know about this. That Café used to be a meeting point for cyclists in Windsor…

I’ve still awarded myself with a hot chocolate, but I had to go to the Costa Café crossed the Eton Bridge for that.

On my way to Windsor I crossed through Ascot, had Brunch there with my friend Fernando and then further to Windsor over the Windsor Great Park.

As yesterday was getting too late to publish the return video I am doing it now. I didn’t take the exact same route back, as at the Windsor Great Park I turned right onto Crown State towards Legoland, then took the B3022, Drift Road and Winkfield Lane. The return video is shorter because it’s Time-Lapse only (1 frame every 0.5 seconds).

Hope it was worth your time watching both videos.

If you like this post and the videos please rate using the stars below, share in Social Media (you know, Facebook and stuff) and click the Thumbs Up in You Tube.

The wonderful British Autumn season… Leaves are turning yellow, red and falling.

Last time I recorded a ride to Windsor was in the beginning of Autumn and the recording was over 1h long and probably no one watched it until the end, so I thought it was about time to record it again, but this time on a time-lapse photography fashion which compresses the entire ride in just a few minutes.

I have also separated the rides to Windsor and from Windsor in two different videos.

From Bracknell to Windsor.

From Windsor to Bracknell

Took a slightly different route on my return, a bit faster and more urban (more roads).

Hope you enjoy it and if you do, please like and share or at least click on the stars below to let me know how I am doing.

Decided to try something new… This is my first, and possibly last, attempt to create something people have called a “Bike VLog“. I´ve been watching a few over the past weeks. They are generally edited “best moments” of someone riding a bicycle to work or for pleasure.

My choice was to record my ride to Windsor yesterday, something I do quite often. I thought of recording this ride especially for the people who don´t live in the UK, as Windsor Castle is a major tourist destination here.

The problem is that it took me more than 1 hour to get there (I usually to do it in 40 to 45 min) and I don´t have the time (nor the will) to spend hours editing it. If you ever wanted to know how it is to ride in England, this long video might offer some insights.

In all Bike VLogs I´ve seen the riders usually narrate the ride and talk about their day and their lives. They share a bit of their lives with the audience and it is kind of interesting. So this is what I tried to do… keep talking. That is not a problem for me (I am a big talker), but as I ride alone most of the time, this was quite unusual. Not sure how interesting it will be for you to listen to my “bla bla bla” for 1h, but I am not here to judge myself. I am sure there will be plenty of people out there doing this for me already. Please be kind, I am taking myself out of my comfort zone here.

OK, let´s get on with this then… I recorded the ride from the South Hill Park, a landmark of Bracknell to Windsor Castle, a landmark of Windsor. I also recorded a little 10 min walk I did around the Windsor Town Centre for those that might be interested of knowing a bit about this tourist destination and then a recorded my way back to Bracknell, which was even longer as I amazingly managed to get lost a few times. Not used to do all this talking while riding and I got distracted and missed a few turns.

From South Hill Park in Bracknell to Windsor Castle

This was the route I took… I was not in a hurry and there are faster routes to Windsor.

Walk around Windsor Town Centre

From the Chocolate Theater Café in Windsor to Bracknell Town Centre (Princess Square shopping centre)

This was the way back from Windsor to Bracknell, via Legoland. Got distracted with all the talking and missed a few turns which took me to some places in town I wasn´t very familiar with, but I was happy for the mistakes as it gave me the opportunity to explore a bit.